Brad Pitt to Step Back From Acting Even More, Despite ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Ad Astra’ Raves

Brad Pitt does not have plans to retire from acting, but he is gearing up to appear even less frequently than he already does on the big screen. In an interview with The New York Times, the actor calls the current acting landscape “a younger man’s game” and says that he does not have any plans on starring in an abundance of new movies. If anything, Pitt’s time as an actor will become more rare.

“It’ll be fewer and farther in between for me, just because I have other things I want to do now,” Pitt said. “When you feel like you’ve finally got your arms around something, then it’s time to go get your arms around something else.”

The New York Times notes that Pitt has become interested in sculpting and landscaping over the years, plus there’s his role as a prolific Hollywood producer with his Plan B Entertainment production company. Plan B has helped produce three Oscar winners for Best Picture: “12 Years a Slave” (for which Pitt won the Best Picture Oscar as a producer), “Moonlight,” and “The Departed.” The company’s films also include “The Lost City of Z,” “Okja,” “Selma,” “Beautiful Boy,” and “The Last Black Man in San Francisco.”

Pitt has already stepped back from acting over the last decade. Prior to 2019, Pitt’s last starring role came in 2017 as the lead in David Michôd’s “War Machine.” The Netflix release was largely ignored by critics and audiences, while Pitt’s 2016 movie “Allied” and 2015 effort “By the Sea” suffered similar fates. Pitt is going through something of a critical comeback in 2019 thanks to Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” in which he’s being viewed as a lock for Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominations, and James Gray’s “Ad Astra,” which launched to critical acclaim at the Venice Film Festival (read IndieWire’s A review here).

Many Brad Pitt fans have been hoping the actor’s 2019 resurgence (and potential 2020 Oscar nomination) would convince the actor to appear more frequently in movies, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Pitt’s comment about acting even less than he already does means moviegoers will have to cherish 2019 for its double dose of the actor. “Hollywood” continues to play in theaters nationwide, while “Ad Astra” opens September 20 from Fox/Disney.